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Farm Right Your success our focus FarmRight Limited is a well established dairy farm investment and management company that has been operating in New Zealand for almost 10 years. The company has recently extended its scope to supply industry-relevant Human Resources (HR) consultancy services to dairy business outside their existing portfolio of managed farms. Debs McKenzie, HR Consultant for FarmRight Ltd, explains: “We have developed some highly effective processes and tools – tried, tested and tuned on our own managed farms - that can help other dairy businesses increase their productivity through better use of their human resources. Coupled with the provision of specialist HR advice and expertise our custom support packages promise a great return on investment. “The vast majority of employee-related issues can be avoided through the adoption of a robust recruitment process, well defined lines of responsibility and honest and regular communication.” The dairy industry, in general terms, has a high staff turnover rate - has the recent economic downturn affected this trend? “We are seeing staff stay in their positions longer and there are noticeably more applicants for our vacancies”, Debs, who has 15 years experience in HR, says. “Nevertheless, recruiting and retaining honest, reliable employees is still a struggle in some areas”. So, what’s the solution and will this change? “As we move out of recession the situation is likely to reverse as employees start looking for new opportunities with the promise of better conditions and support. We will also start to see less choice with fewer quality applicants coming forward as vacancies
Debs McKenzie
Human Resources Manager & Consultant FarmRight Ltd
become available. Good farm managers will be looking to future-proof their businesses by ensuring they have sound HR practices in place well ahead of this. Employees are likely to stay with employers who can offer good quality housing, are flexible, set realistic goals, define clear lines of responsibility and provide development opportunities.” FarmRight’s unique three-in-one solution comprises a position description, training/ development plan and performance review, and is called the Performance and Development Journal (PDJ©). The PDJ provides managers and employees with a practical, on-farm tool that is simple to use, structured, and promotes ownership and accountability. The PDJ contains a number of role-specific skills matrices ranging from dairy farm assistant through to operations manager that show employees how they can progress in their current role and appreciate the skills and attributes required of more senior positions to help them plan their career development. “We have received fantastic feedback from our clients who have purchased and implemented our PDJ. We have been using it on FarmRight managed farms for the past three seasons and over that time it has been refined, evolving into a highly effective tool. FarmRight recognises that the quality, motivation and performance of employees are the key factors in achieving business success and the PDJ is a straightforward and practical tool to ensure performance is monitored, reviewed, and development plans are created” Debs says. FarmRight HR consultancy services can help dairy farm managers and owners develop an on-farm culture that promotes employee involvement, open communication, teamwork and collaboration.
FarmRight Ltd’s human resources manager and consultant Debs McKenzie discussing management solutions.
FarmRight are pleased to announce the expansion of it’s services. In addition to managed farms, FarmRight Ltd can provide expert HR consultancy services specific to the dairy industry in the following areas: